Dog-strangling Vine

One FWG volunteer is reclaiming a wet meadow from invasive species and planting it with sedges, Swamp Milkweed, Meadowsweet, and other local wetland species. by Sandy Garland, photos and strategy by Catherine Shearer Bumble bee visiting Comfrey flowers. Photo by Catherine Shearer. Catherine Shearer, who received a volunteer recognition award from the FWG [...]

This year's OIPC conference included many field trips that allowed participants to try out tools, such as the green Weeder and orange Extractigator to remove dog-strangling vine and small shrubs. by Lynn Ovenden The Ontario Invasive Plants Council hosted their 10th annual meeting and conference in Ottawa this year. The event began on October 10, 2017 with [...]

A team of enthusiastic Carleton students helped turn a field of DSV into a wildflower meadow... by Sandy Garland Just across the canal from the FWG, Carleton University has been a good neighbour to us over the years. Most recently, students have been volunteering at the garden during their annual Carleton Serves day in the [...]

by Sandy Garland Yes, it's about dog-strangling vine (DSV) again, our major preoccupation at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We're making a bit of progress in some areas and noting that many native species (like walnut trees, goldenrods, and raspberries) are holding their own or even out-competing DSV. But there are places where DSV is so [...]

by Sandy Garland Although last Tuesday was one of the hottest days of the year, Ted, Kate, Catrina, Melanie, and Mirko all arrived ready to work. We had decided to plant more trees - not the best time of year for this activity, but we needed to get the trees into the ground where they [...]

by Sandy Garland Once upon a time, 4-5 years ago, I pulled out the DSV that was growing under this walnut tree. I put down some newspapers to keep it from growing back (we've learned subsequently that this doesn't really work) and forgot about it. This year, I noticed there is almost no DSV [...]

by Sandy Garland Yes, despite the threatened thunderstorms, both the Tuesday group and a crew of people involved in the Learning Garden at Ottawa U came to work in our Old Woodlot the same day. In the afternoon, Derek and Mirko tackled the milkweed field with scythes. Despite the hot, humid weather, they succeeded in [...]

by Sandy Garland Tuesday again and another chance to work in the Old Woodlot! I was rather disorganized this week as it sort of looked like rain, except when the sun came out, and volunteers arrived one at a time, so it was hard to know how big a job to tackle. So we loaded [...]

by Sandy Garland It may be easy to see this young tree, but can you see the other smaller ones in the background? Stakes help. This Tuesday, we took a break from scything DSV and went on a bit of a treasure hunt. Ted pointed out that as he's been weeding he's coming [...]

by Sandy Garland Tuesday afternoon and time to work in the woods again. With all the rain, things have changed considerably since the last blog post 2 weeks ago. Jewelweed is still dominating the whole area, but the trees planted this year and last are doing well and lots of wildflowers are popping up. Despite [...]